


Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)

by whatamidoingwithmylife



Category: Kill Bill (Movies), One Direction
Genre: Blood, Guns, Lost Love, M/M, Minor Character Death, Reunion, Revenge, Swords, all of the boys die or are thought to be dead, so I wouldn't recommend reading it if that is going to be a problem for you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 13:30:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5786992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatamidoingwithmylife/pseuds/whatamidoingwithmylife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kill Bill AU.</p><p>The group called the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad served to eliminate targets for their well-paying clients. The group was run by Nicholas Grimshaw (code name: Snake Charmer), with Louis as his right hand man (code name: Black Mamba). Their team consisted of Niall Horan (code name: Copperhead), Zayn Malik (code name: Cotton-Mouth), Liam, Nick's brother (code name: Sidewinder), and Harry (code name: Californian Mountain Snake). Louis and Nick were once lovers, though he started having feelings for Harry and they fell in love, but kept it a secret for many months. Eventually both Louis and Harry wanted to retire so they could try to live normal lives together, so they ran away. Somehow Nick found out about them and on their wedding day he and the rest of the DVAS bombarded the wedding and killed everyone there, except Louis, who is put in a coma. </p><p>After Louis wakes up from a 4-year coma, he seeks revenge on the DVAS, picking them off one by one.</p><p> </p><p>SPOILER ALERT:<br/>Harry is also alive but Louis doesn't know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "Bang bang, that awful sound."

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vi ano (comingbackhometoyou)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/comingbackhometoyou/gifts).



> I know it's a month late and for that I am sorry. 
> 
> It never hurts to say that I do not own the boys or Kill Bill. I took some of the lines from the movie because they are awesome so I do not own every word of it. 
> 
> If you have never watched the movies don't worry, you'll still be able to understand everything. But you should watch it anyway because it's art. 
> 
> The movie has a nonlinear narrative and so does this fic. The past will be written in italics. 
> 
> I would like to thank my friend and myself in another body, Alice, for accepting the hard job of being my beta. She had tried to watch Kill Bill years ago but couldn't finish it because she didn't like it but still she agreed to do this. Thank you for watching both movies, enduring my complaints that I couldn't write this, telling me I should be writing multiple times, helping me figure out a few things about the characters and bringing me tea and snacks when I used her house to write because my internet was down. You're the best.
> 
> The title is from the song Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) by Nancy Sinatra. I don't know how to put links here but you should listen to it. Especially while reading this first part.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it. I really tried.

 

####  _"Revenge is a dish best served cold."_

_-Old Klingon Proverb_

 

 

_Louis' sight is coming back to him but his head still feels like it is spinning. What was all black is slowly becoming the ceiling._

_He can feel a metallic taste in his mouth and the mix of blood and sweat sticking to his skin. He doesn't want to think about all his broken bones and how much it would hurt if he tried to move, how much it is already hurting, so he stays lying almost motionless on the ground. He knows he is not alone but all he can hear is his labored breaths trying to keep his lungs working. And then he can hear steps._

_He knows who those steps belong to without having to look. Those slow and precise steps coming his way, echoing louder, getting closer. He doesn't want to look but when those feet stop moving they are right beside his head and the person is blocking the ceiling, he doesn't have a choice that doesn't involve him squeezing his eyes like a child would do to make their fears go away. But Louis knows there's no way to get rid of this one._

_The man crouches beside him. "Do you find me sadistic?", he asks as his eyes studies Louis' face looking for the smallest hint of an answer. He doesn't find any._

_The man takes a white handkerchief embroidered with the name 'Nick' out of his pocket. He begins wiping Louis' face softly, taking his time. Louis restrains himself from pulling his face away from the touch, he can image what the consequences of that would be. But his fear is translated into his breathing, his shallow breaths barely have time to happen before the next one comes. He tries to stop shaking._

_“You know, I'll bet I can fry an egg on your head right now. If I wanted to.” Nick comments quietly. Louis feels the light pressure of Nick's handkerchief on his mouth. He doesn't dare to move._

_“You know, Tommo. I'd like to believe you're aware enough, even now, to know that there's nothing sadistic in my actions.” Nick pauses for a second, considering something. “Well, maybe towards those other jokers. But not you.”_

_Nick touches Louis' cheek with a knuckle for a few heartbeats and then stands up._

_“No, Tommo. At this moment,” his voice is louder now; clear and toneless. A safety being disengaged is heard. “This is me at my most masochistic.”_

_Louis thought about screaming Nick's name and maybe begging for his life during Nick's speech. But that's not something he learned to do and to be honest it is not something he wants to do. He wills himself to turn his head even if it hurts because there's something he needs to see again before he dies. There's something he wants to reach. He starts moving his arm but it's just a few inches before a gun is fired. He can feel the impact on his head and it all vanishes in less than a second._


	2. The Benders.

**The city of Pasadena, California.**

 

 Louis parks the car at the curb, the little dashboard hula doll dancing more than before. He looks outside to check if he's at the right place even though he knows he is. The street looks desert - only a couple of cars parked and they are more than a handful of houses away. It's the middle of the afternoon and the sky is clear. The sun is shining, the houses are all painted in bright colors, the gardens are vivid green and full of flowers. _A great contrast to what is about to happen_ , he thinks.

If anyone was to look through those big rectangular windows every single house in this street seems to have, they would have a great view of Louis getting out of the car and making his way through the garden to the house's front door. They'd have no problem remembering his features.

His tight but not suffocating jeans, his band T-shirt, his leather jacket and his Vans. His messy light brown hair, his sharp cheek bones and maybe even his blue eyes. That is if they can get their eyes off of the enormous bumper sticker that says 'Pussy Wagon'. It's a good thing Louis won't stay here for long then.

He passes the yellow mail box with black letters forming the words 'The Benders'. He walks through scattered toys in the garden. A few blocks, a red bicycle, a pink tricycle, a small table that reaches his knee, a doll and a few toy cars. He avoids every single one of them. He stops at the door and rings the door bell once. He checks his surroundings one last time to make sure there's no one out there. His determined eyes go back to the wood door once he hears a voice coming from the other side.

“I'm coming!" There's a click sound and the door is being opened. “Sarah, I cannot believe you are early-”, the man's voice dies once he looks at Louis, door completely opened.

They stare at each other for a couple of seconds, just enough for Louis to remember about the day he almost died. Just enough for him to have a flashback of Niall, the man in front of him, punching him in the face. Not enough time for Niall to prepare himself for the punch Louis throws on his face, hitting his upper lip.

Niall's head is thrown back and he takes a few steps to regain his balance. Louis enters the house and strikes him again. This time Niall is prepared so he dodges. Louis kick him but he defends and when Louis uses his arm again, Niall grabs it and throws Louis against the wall. There is a shattering sound as the mirror Louis was thrown against breaks and he falls to the ground. Niall goes to him and tries to step on his chest but Louis uses his forearm to block it.

Louis kicks Niall's groin, and Niall bends forward, howling in pain. Louis kicks him again, this time on the face, throwing him back. Niall lands on the coffee table, breaking it and Louis is already up and jumping over the sofa to hit him again. Niall grabs the broken wooden leg of the coffee table and hits Louis' kneecap, making him yell in pain. Niall goes to strike again, this time on the face. Louis lies down to avoid it and when Niall gets up to hit him with more force, he uses his leg to hurl Niall back.

Niall's back hits a rack shelf and he uses it in his advantage, going to its side and dropping it on top of Louis. Louis prepares himself for the impact, tensing his muscles and curving in on himself, protecting his head. The shelf and its contents hit him and it takes him only a few seconds to squeeze his way through the open space between two racks. Niall is not in the living room anymore so Louis gets up and runs to find him.

He enters the kitchen and immediately has to dodge because Niall was out of sight before but he is holding a knife and tries to hit him by surprise with it. Louis sees a frying pan on the stove right beside him so he takes it while still trying to avoid the blade. He uses the frying pan to defend himself from Niall's numerous attacks as he walks backwards. They enter the dining room like that, Niall striking and Louis defending.

 “Whatcha gonna do about it now, fucker? Huh?” Niall shouts. Louis is now in the doorway that leads to the living room. Niall strikes again and this time Louis is not fast enough. He can feel the the blade cutting from his arm to his hand and he drops the pan, emitting a cry of pain. Niall goes to hit him again but he uses his left hand to stop Niall's wrist. Niall takes it as an opportunity to boot him. Louis stumbles back and runs so he can have time to draw out his knife out of its sheath, strapped to his right thigh.

 He turns to Niall, who was following him and they both stop in the middle of the living room, right by the window. Their arms are in front of them, ready to attack, staring at each other.

 “Come on, fucker.” Niall says. But he doesn't move forward. They are both trying to guess the other's next move. They test each other but neither hits the other.

 Then they hear an engine sound coming from the street. From his peripheral sight, Louis can see that it is a school bus, stopping right in front of the house. A little girl gets out of it, carrying a backpack and a lunch bag. She starts making her way through the garden to the door and the bus leaves.

 Niall glances at the little girl in the garden, who is still to look at the window and see them, and his eyes widen. He looks at Louis with pleading eyes and glances back at her. She gets out of sight and Niall's eyes find Louis again, shaking his head and begging him not to.

 Louis needs to think fast. This is the most vulnerable Niall is going to get. But... the little girl. He doesn't want to hurt her. This is not what he came here for. He also doesn't want her to be traumatized because she saw her father get killed in front of her. She is not part of his revenge.

 They can hear the doorknob clicking and as the door is creaking open, both of them turn to it, hiding their weapons behind their bodies.

 “Daddy, I'm home!” The little girl shouts before seeing them. Once she does, she stops with her hand still on the doorknob.

 “Hello, baby! How was school?” Niall tries to sound chipper and plaster a smile on his face.

 The girl gapes at her father and then at the room. “Daddy, what happened to you and the TV room?”

 Louis looks around. They are where the coffee table broke so there's glass and broken wood beneath then. Right behind him the rack shelf is on the ground and so is all of its contents. The sofa to his right is out of place and the TV shelf has broken pieces of mirror all over it.

 Niall has blood of his face and down his neck. Louis can feel a few cuts stinging and there's blood on his face too. And the cut Niall gave his arm is dripping a bit. Probably not a normal sight for a little girl to come home to. Probably.

 “That good-for-nothing dog of yours got his little ass in the living room and acted a damn fool.” Niall is good at thinking fast, Louis will give him that. He just hopes the girl accepts that it caused all the blood too.

 “Ollie did this?” The girl sounds shocked. She steps forward and Niall stops her.

 “Sweetie, you can't come in. There's glass everywhere. I don't want you to cut yourself.”

 The little girl obeys. She looks at the floor again and then at Louis, only now acknowledging his existence.

 Louis looks at Niall as if asking what to do now. Should he talk to her? What should he say?

 “That's an old friend of daddy's. I ain't seen him in a long time. Say 'hello' to him, Nikki.”

 Nikkia continues to stare at Louis but doesn't say a word.

 “Hi”, Louis tries. “Such a pretty name for such a pretty girl. How old are you, Nikki?”

 Nikkia doesn't look like she's going to answer. “Nikki, he asked you a question.”

 Two seconds pass and then, “I'm four.”

 Four years. If things had gone according to the plans, Louis could have a four-year-old kid by now.

 Niall goes to his daughter and kneels in front of her, right hand still behind his back. He uses his left hand to touch her shoulder to soothe her. “Nikki, now me and daddy's friend, we have some grown up talk to talk about. I want you to go into your room and stay there until I tell you to come out, okay?”

 The girl doesn't answer her father. She just stares at Louis without expressing any emotion. Niall takes his left hand out of her shoulder and snaps his fingers at her to catch her attention.

 “In your room, Nikkia. Now.” Niall's tone is firm and final. The little girl starts to move, but her paces are slow. Her eyes don't leave Louis' face until she disappears in the hallway. Louis' eyes don't leave hers before she does.

 A second after she's gone and they can hear her bedroom door being shut, Louis stops hiding his knife and Niall turns around. The last one looks at the ground first and then at Louis, studying him. Louis is not sure what to do now.

 “You want some coffee?” Niall offers.

 Louis sights, “Yeah, sure.”

 Niall leads the way to the kitchen without saying another word. Louis follows him after putting his knife away, back into the knife sheath, and closing the front door. He enters the dining room again and comes to a halt close to the half wall, checking the cuts on his arm. From there he can see Niall by the kitchen sink, already preparing their coffee.

 Louis observes him. He tries to connect that man to the one in his memories. It's easier than he thought it would be. In front of him is the man that presents himself as Sven Bender to the world. Married to a great doctor, Selena Bender, and father to the little girl that just interrupted them. But back when they were acquainted , four years ago, his name was Niall Horan. His code name was Copperhead. Louis' was Black Mamba.

 Four years. Four and a half, really. Niall didn't change a lot physically, except for his hair. He used to be a brunette, now he is blonde. A few scars more too, probably. But his life? Louis looks around again, drinking in that suburb house. Everything looks so normal. A table with two used plates and a cup filled with juice on it and four chairs around it; two bookshelves in the corners, pictures on the walls. The kitchen with lots of cabinets and appliances on the countertops; dishes drying; the fridge has drawings and pictures on it. A normal house to go with Niall's normal family in his new normal life. The fact that Niall gets to have what he helped to take away from Louis makes Louis just a bit more angry.

 “Do you have a towel?" Louis asks, trying to control himself. Now is not the time.

 “Yeah,” Niall leaves the mugs and grabs two pieces of barely damp blue cloths with white stripes. He walks to the half wall and throws one on top of it, avoiding getting too close, at arms reach. He keeps one for himself, using it to get blood out of his lips and cheeks. Louis grabs his immediately, probably a bit more aggressively than necessary. “Thanks.”

 Niall goes back to the countertop as Louis begins cleaning the blood from his face and neck. “Still take milk, no sugar, right?”

 “Yeah,” Louis confirms and Niall goes to get the milk. Louis is watching Niall carefully. He thinks Niall won't start a fight when his daughter is in the house but still, Louis doesn't really know him that much and this is his territory. Niall's specialty are knives and he is in a kitchen right now, one can never be too careful.

 “So I suppose it's a little late for an apology, huh?”

 Louis snorts. “I don't know what gave you that impression! That's all I came here for, actually. I thought we could hug it out!”

 Niall puts the sugar pot down and turns around to stare at Louis. “Look, ya cunt. I get why you're here. I just need to know if you're gonna start any more shit around my baby girl.” He tries to keep his voice down and takes a couple of steps forward to point a finger at Louis.

 Louis looks at the finger with a raised eyebrow. “Relax, Horan.” He pushes the right sleeve of his jacket up and starts wrapping the blue cloth around the cut on his wrist. “I'm not gonna murder you in front of your child, okay?”

 Niall seem to calm down a bit. He lowers his arm. “That's being more rational than Nick led me to believe you were capable of.” He goes to fetch their drinks.

 Once his wrist is dressed, Louis says, “It's mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack. Not rationality.”

 Niall stare into his eyes, hands him a mug and then goes back to his place by the counter. His whole body is turned to Louis. “I know I fucked you over. I fucked you over bad. But there's no way I can take it back, even if I want to. And you said yourself that you're not here looking for an apology. You want to get even, right? I understand it and-”

 “No”, Louis interrupts him. “Get even?” Louis snorts a couple of times and shakes his head. “To get even I'd have to wait for your wife to get home, kill her while you're watching and can do nothing about it because you're bleeding on the floor and then kill you. And your little girl could be killed before or after that, I wouldn't really mind either.” He can see Niall's sharp intake of breath. “Although before would cause you more pain. Now that, _that_ would be even. That would be about square.” He uses his hand to draw a square in the air.

 Niall walks to him, the half wall and the stove inside the kitchen still separating them. “I know there is no fucking time machine to go back in time and stop myself from doing what I did. And I swear to God I wish I could. All I can say, what I can guarantee you, is that I am a different person now.”

 “Oh, for fuck's sake, Horan! I don't care if you're fucking Mother Theresa now or if the Pope thinks you should be sainted, it changes nothing for me. Not a goddamn thing you did these past four years, including getting someone knocked up by the way, so don't you dare try to use your daughter right now, is going to change that. You and I, we have unfinished business.”

 Niall looks him dead in the eyes. If he had any other arguments to try and beg for his life, he swallows them. “Right, so how do we do this then? When?”

 Their heads lean forward so they can stare at each other while trying to impose themselves.Trying to look more of a threat than the other. “That depends. When do you want to die?” His tone is deeper, darker. “I don't really have four more years to wait so let's try to make it sooner rather than later.”

 “How about tonight, cunt?” Niall spits.

 “Splendid. Where?”

 “There's a football pitch three blocks from here. It's locked at night but I've got the keys because I teach kids there twice a week. No one will bother us, I'm sure. Be there at midnight, wear all black. And we have us a knife fight.” He pauses to make sure Louis understood everything. “Now, I have to fix my daughter's cereal.”

 Louis takes a step back and leans against the wall holding his mug of coffee while Niall goes to the cabinet, opens one of its door and grabs the cereal box. He puts it on the countertop and goes to pick a bowl.

 “Nick always said you were one of the best with an edged weapon.” Nick didn't. The sound that Niall makes as he goes to the fridge to get milk and the way he tells Louis that he doesn't believe it either. It wasn't like Nick to qualify his people. But Louis does think that Niall is one of the best. He is sure to get a serious injury if they are to fight with knives. He could still be the last man standing, but he doesn't need any more serious injuries right now. How can he get Niall to change his mind? “How about weapon of choice? And if you wanna stick to your butcher knife that's fine by me.”

 Niall inclines the cereal box and puts a hand inside of it. He turns his head to Louis. “Ha ha. Very funny, Tommo. Very funny.” As he finishes screaming the last sentence, his left foot steps behind so he can turn his body, one hand still inside of the box, the other one holding it so it doesn't fall. He points the box's bottom to Louis and cereal falls on the floor at the same time that a shot is being fired.

 Luckily for Louis, Niall is great with knives but not so good with a gun. The shot that hits the wall to Louis' right startles him and everything happens so fast after that. He intentionally drops the mug he was holding and before it reaches the ground he kicks it Niall's way. It travels letting half of its content spill. Niall avoids it by ducking his upper body to the side and the mug clashes against the wall behind him. Louis has enough time to quickly take his knife from the sheath and to throw it before Niall does anything else. It impales Niall's chest and throws him backwards until his back finds the cabinet.

 Niall eyes widen. His arm is still stretched in front of him, hand still inside that stupid cereal box. But a second shot never comes. Niall stays up for three seconds before sliding down slowly. Around the knife, blood starts soaking his T-shirt. He stares at Louis from the ground.

 Louis walks to him, cereal crunching beneath his feet, coffee scented air all around him. Niall's chest stopped moving. Louis kneels to remove his knife from Niall's chest, making sure to check for vitals signs. He puts a finger under Niall's nose but feels no air coming out of it. Then he uses two fingeritps to put pressure on Niall's neck, on his artery. He waits ten seconds and nothing. Louis stands up.

 There's a gasp coming from somewhere behind him. He turns his head and sees Nikkia. She's just standing there, unreadable face, staring at her father's lifeless body.

 Louis watches her, waiting for the her scream but it never comes. He sighs. He would have preferred it if it didn't happen like that, in front of her. He grabs a dishcloth to clean his knife.

 “It was not my intention to do this in front of you. For that, I'm sorry.” He gets her attention and she holds his gaze. It's important to him that she understands it. “But you can take my word for it, your father had it coming.” He puts his now somewhat clean knife back to its sheath and drops the dishcloth.

 He makes his way to the other door so he doesn't have to get near the kid on his way out. He listens to his steps and to the cereal he is destroying with his feet but he's still not listening to cries. He hopes he didn't just turn this kid into one of them. He's seen it happen before. He pauses before leaving and looks at her again.

 “When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it... I'll be waiting.”

 It's not a threat. It's more like a promise. It's an acceptance that it might happen. He is getting his revenge, he understands if she wants to get hers. He walks away.

  _"For those engaged in combat, when engaged in combat, the_ _vanquishing_ _of thine enemy can be the warriors only concern._ _Suppress_ _all human emotion and compassion. Kill whoever stands in the way, even if that be Lord God, or Buddha himself. This truth lies at the heart of the art of combat.”_

 Louis gets inside the car. The street is as quiet as before. He opens the glove compartment and grabs the notebook he had left there. He opens it on the marked page. He looks for the pen he was that was inside of the notebook and after seven seconds he finds it inside the glove compartment as well. He turns to the notebook again.

 He examines the list. Death List Four. The first name on the list is already crossed and now he gets to do the same with the second one, Niall Horan – Copperhead. He is half done already. Two down, two to go. Time to focus on the next name then.

 


	3. One Groom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Rape. No rape is described but there's a brief mention of it.

_TILL DEATH DO US PART_

_A small wedding ceremony held in the backyard of a house in Hyannis, the largest village in the town of Barnstable, MA, ended in tragedy yesterday. What seems to be the work of professionals left nine people dead and one, the groom, in a coma. Among the victims there were two little girls. The citizens of the town are shocked and scared after the news of the massacre. The police refused to give any statements on the case as investigations continue._

  

***

  

“ _Hello, brother.”_

_Nick is seated on his favorite armchair. He's been waiting for this call for what feels like hours. He is not an anxious person, far from that but this. This is important._

“ _What is his condition?” Nick doesn't allow himself to show emotion. He is not sure he feels it anyway._

“ _Comatose.” Liam informs him._

_He lets the words sink in. The grip on the cellphone tightens and he shuts his eyes. He will not feel relieve. This only makes everything much more complicated. What will he do about it?_

“ _That's all I wanted to know. You can leave the hospital now.”_

“ _But, Nick, don't you want me to kill him? This little piece of shit-”, the voice begins to protest but Nick cuts him off._

“ _May I say one thing?” He pauses, waiting for a permission to go on. “Y'all beat the hell out of that man and you didn't kill him. I put a bullet in his head but his heart just kept on beating. We've done a lot of things to this gentleman. If he ever wakes up, we'll do a lot more. But one thing we're not going to do is sneak into his room in the middle of the night like a filthy rat and kill him in his sleep. And the reason we won't do that thing is because that would lower us.”_

_He's not sure he means that but his brother is already against his last decisions on this matter. If he says the wrong thing he might disobey him._

_Liam doesn't reply for more seconds than it should take him for accept an order. “Of course, Nick. As you wish.”_

_They hang up._

 

***

 

Louis can hear a fainting beep but he can't place it.

Beep.

Beep.

It's constant and it is getting louder.

Beep.

Beep.

His eyes are still closed but he is becoming more aware of his surroundings. He can feel the chill air caressing his arms and face; he can hear machines beeping; he can feel the weight of his body and the surface underneath it; he can smell iodoform. He can't remember where he is.

Louis opens his eyes and takes a sharp intake of breath as his upper body moves forward, bringing him to a sitting position. His heart is racing, his eyes are wide open and his body is cold. His eyes scan the room he is in as he tries to make sense of what happened.

The walls are white colored and the room is dim lit. The sterile scent is mixed with a sick smell. He feels dirty and he smells like it. He looks down to his blue dotted hospital gown and to the IVs penetrating his skin. He analyses the rest of the room and notices three other hospital beds with patients on them, all of them with monitors beeping beside them. There's also a locked cabinet with medicines in it and a wheelchair right beside it.

Before he can absorb more information about the place, he hears a voice inside his head that causes him to freeze.

“ _At this moment, this is me at my most masochistic.”_

It is followed by the sound of a gunshot. By the vision of a body dead on the ground by his side.

Louis quickly touches the place where the bullet hit him with his fingertips.He can feel a depression on his head in that exact point. No. This can't be happening.

Louis hyperventilates. He uses his arms to hug his middle while the world around him crumbles. The constant flow of tears wet his cheeks and his gown. He is unable to speak so he sobs and repeats the name Harry in his head like a mantra or like the words to an enchantment he wishes to work.

His chest aches and it rapidly spreads to his whole body. He doesn't know for how long he cries, it could have been one minute or twenty. He feels like crying for the rest of his existence because he is sure the tears would still be there to shed.

 _Stop it. You'll have time to grieve later and also to regret that you are the one that is alive. You have things to figure out now,_ that's what he needs to tell himself. His sobs start to die and he is not shaking as much but the pain is still there. He wipes the tears and takes a deep breath before scanning the room again.

He finds what he is looking for on his bedside table. The magazine is next to a bottle of water, in arms reach so he only has to lean a bit to the left to grab it. The cover is an almost naked Kardashian girl he has never heard of and he is quite sure he will never think of his butt as big ever again after looking at hers. The magazine looks new, a nurse must have left it there earlier. He spots the date, “winter 2014”. Winter? So it's probably December. Or November, if the magazine is out before winter actually starts. But fuck, 2014. Or maybe 2015, if it's not a recent issue.

He let's go of the magazine and tries not to cry again when he thinks about the date. A bit over four years. He's been on a coma for four years. Harry has been dead for four years. Nick-

Steps and voices getting closer to the room's door stop his train of thoughts. He tries not to panic. He can't hide, he wouldn't have the time, so he lies down and pretends he hasn't waken up yet. He needs to think of a way to get out of this place as soon as possible.

The door creaks open and people walk into the room. The steps get closer to Louis' bed and come to a halt. There's a stinky cheap male cologne scent in the air now, blended with a faint smell of cigarette.

“It's seventy-five bucks a fuck for this one. You getting your freak on or what?”

Louis tries to focus on his breathing. He cannot react to this, not now. Control your pulse, control your reactions. Wait for the right moment.

“Oh, yeah. Damn sure”, a second man replies.

Louis feels disgust building but he won't think about it now. As the second guy counts his money, Louis decides to focus on anger.

“Okay, the money is right. Here's the rules”, the first man cleans his throat. “Rule number one: no punching him. Nurse comes in tomorrow and he's got a shiner, we in trouble. This one is a good boy usually. Hardly ever spits. But if he does, no punching. We clear?”

“Yeah, we clear.”

“Good. Rule number two, no finger marks, no hickeys, no bites, no leaving marks of no kind. Other than that, have your way with him. Here's the lube, use it. Try not to make a mess, I'll be back in twenty.”

The first guy walks out of the room and his “customer” stays where he was until the door shuts. He laughs and gets closer to Louis. It sounds like he is taking his clothes off, maybe just a jacket. He exhales, reading himself. He gets on the bed and kneels, the side of his knees touching Louis' thighs, straddling him.

“Oh, yeah. Fuck. You are the most good-looking boy I had in weeks. And that's a lot, kid. God, those cheeks! I wanna see 'em with my dick against 'em.”

Louis can feel the mattress dipping on both sides of his head. He must be leaning down now. That's it. Now!

Louis opens his eyes and goes for the man's mouth. He bites it with all of his strength. The guy screams and pulls his body back, but it doesn't help him, it only makes it easier for Louis' bite to rip his lower lip.

The guy passes out in seconds. Or dies. Probably dies. Louis just doesn't care enough to check. The only thing he does care about is if the guy has or had any diseases. He doesn't want to think of the chances - considering fucking prostitutes or comatose patients might have been a habit for the guy - but he's definitely going to get checked soon.

Louis pushes him and he drops to the ground. Both of them have blood down their neck and clothes. Louis grabs the water bottle from the nightstand and tries to clean the blood from himself quickly, drinking the last of it before throwing the empty bottle on the guy on the floor.

Louis rips out every tube connected to his body. He tries to get out of bed and walk but falls to the floor with a loud thud. He tries to move his legs but they won't obey him so stares at them and smacks them, willing the blood to flow faster or to maybe shock them awake, but nothing changes. He sights and crawls to the guy on the floor. What a great fucking day to not have died.

Louis searches for something useful in the guy's pockets and finds a switchblade. He opens it, holds the blade between his teeth and resumes crawling, this time to the door. He hides beside it. Not that it's a good hiding place, but he is lying on the ground so he'll just hope the guy from before doesn't walk into rooms with his eyes down. He's probably too full of himself to do that anyway.

Louis only has to wait a couple of minutes before the door opens and the guy walks into the room. Now that Louis can see him, he notices his big watch on his wrist and a wallet and what looks like a key in his back pocket. He also notices that he is a nurse. He almost wants to laugh at the irony.

“Hey, stud, time's over. Did you have a good one?” The guy's chuckle dies when he looks at the man covered in blood on the ground. Louis takes it as the perfect moment to use the blade to cut his Achilles tendon. The guy falls by his side and Louis drags the body to the door, placing the nurse's head between the door frame and the door.

“Scream and I will cut your throat”, Louis warns into his ear. The nurse blinks a few times and focus on Louis. He nods, dizziness and confusion showing in his features. “Now, where is Nick?”

Louis likes to think half a second is enough for someone to answer a simple question so his swatting the nurse's head with a door was the guy's fault, really. He demands again, “where's Nick?”

“I don't know! Please stop hitting me.” The nurse cries. Another swing and another hit.

“WHERE'S NICK?”

“I swear to God I don't know, I don't know. I don't... I don't know who the fuck is Nick!” He sounds desperate. He moves his arms with no purpose, trying to do something about t he pain and knowing he is not able to. His hands catch Louis' attention. There's a knuckle tattoo there, it says “fuck”.

Louis remembers it. He is not sure how. but in his mind comes a flash of it. A memory of the nurse's voice telling him “my name is Buck and I'm here to fuck”. "Fuck" and "Buck" as knuckles tattoos. Buck's laugh echoes in his head. “I'm not a faggot but a hole is a hole, ain't it? It's not like anyone else will know, just you and me, John Doe. I just need to test the products I'm gonna sell to others before, ya know? And I love pussies. So no homo, yeah?”

Louis feels his face contort with disgust. Okay, maybe Buck has no idea who Nick is. He wouldn't have called him John Doe if he did.

“Your name is Buck. Right?” Buck's eyes widen. He knows Louis knows. “And you're here to fuck - but no homo. Right?” Louis spits.

Louis's hands slam the door with all of his strength. It hits Buck's right temple. Buck's legs start to shake. Louis opens the door just enough to check the hallway and no, no one there. He doesn't know if he should be grateful for this being easier than he though it would be or if he should hate this place because is that really the place he spent the last four years? Okay, he does know. He hates it.

He takes the keys he saw before in Buck's pocket. The key chain has the words 'Pussy Wagon' on it.

“You piece of shit.”

Some would argue that Buck was already dead or maybe close to it so to let him suffer would be the best option but Louis' rage would defend that the extra couple of door hits were totally necessary.

Louis also takes Buck's money and his sunglasses. What kind of nurse walks around in the hospital with his sunglasses in his pocket? Well, at least aviators look great on Louis. Louis changes into Buck's clothes and pulls himself to the wheelchair in the room. This is how he's getting out.

It's easier than he though it would be. No one spared him a second glance as he made his way to the empty elevator. The parking lot was dark and he had no idea how he was going to find Buck's car. It could be any car there. Except that it couldn't. Not after Louis finds a bright yellow Chevrolet Silverado SS with a human size 'Pussy Wagon' bump sticker, just like on the key chain.

“For fuck's sake. Really?” Louis whispers to himself. “I mean, really??”

He wheels the wheelchair until he is beside the back door. He turns off the alarm and opens the locks. Okay, so now comes the hardest part.

Louis opens the door and puts his hands inside the car, trying to position them the best way for him to have support. He props himself up and moves his hands slightly forward, turtle movements, closer to the front seat of the car. When he's close enough to it, he propels himself forward and hugs the driver's seat's headrest as quick and as tight as he can. He hears the wheelchair moving back.

He turns his body slightly to the open door's direction. His fingers are slippery and his arms shake. He throws himself back as far as he can, though that's not saying much. He's lying down on the red leather back seat, half of his leg is hanging from the car, weighting him down and out. Louis finds the safety handle close to the door behind his head and with a certain effort manages to put his right hand on it; the other one goes to the handle beside the passenger's seat.

There's sweat dripping from his face and causing the nurse's uniform to stick to his body. There's a single tear falling from his eye but he won't acknowledge the pain that comes with the strain. He will pull his half-useless body until it's completely inside of the car. He will focus on breathing and not on how hard this is. He pulls himself back and up once again, letting out a whimper. He can feel the door barely touching his back. Just one more pull and that part is done.

Louis sights with relieve. He stares at his feet and moves his head, unable to focus on anything until his breathing is stabilized. He pants and bends his body forward so he can close the door he left opened. He barely manages to do so and he only has his own height to blame. Or he can tell himself it's just the fact that he didn't exercise in the last four years and didn't sleep better at night.

Louis looks left and right, checking if there's anyone out there that could have noticed him but there isn't. He can focus on his feet now.

The hardest part of getting his legs to obey him again will be the first one; the first movement he will control. The rest will be easier. Not easy, but easier.

He furrows his eyebrows and stares at his feet. He narrows his concentration down to one toe. "Wiggle your big toe." Nothing happens. He tries uttering it again. Naught.

Louis entwines his fingers and rests his hands on his lap. He can't try to rush this or get frustrated. It will take time but he believes that time is something he has now, the only thing he has. Well, time and revenge.

He doesn't want to mourn. Not now, at least. He doesn't feel that he could take it. He should focus on revenge because then, when he does allow the pain to overcome him, it won't be that bad. So that's what he does. As he lies there at the back of Buck's truck, trying to will his limps out of that stagnant state, he thinks of who did that to him. He can see their faces. The members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad.

Louis thinks that when fortune smiles on something as violent and ugly as revenge, it seems proof like no other, that not only does God exist, but you're doing His will. And he believes that if God himself wants him to seek revenge, then he has no other option. He can only smile and promise to make his God proud. He will haunt down all three members of the squad. And the leader. He is definitely not forgetting about the leader.

 


	4. The Origin of Zayn Malik.

_Zayn is hiding under his parents' bed. His mother told him to stay quiet and to get out only when she tells him to. She looked so brave but Zayn could tell she was scared. He should have hugged her before complying._

_He is not sure why this is happening, nobody explains to you these kind of things when you're nine years old and there isn't much talk going on in the room. If he had to guess, he'd say it has something to do with his father's work. His father, Yaser Malik, is a Sergeant Major in an american military base in Tokyo. That's where Zayn was born and raised. He learned quite a lot there. He knows how to defend himself but, most importantly, he also knows when to stay quiet and take orders. That's the case tonight._

_There's only one side of the bed that allows Zayn to watch what's going on, the others are obstructed by either a thick duvet or the bedroom's wall. People are fighting, that Zayn can tell. He watches feet kicking, balances being lost and people disappearing of his limited sight. When they're back he searches for his father's shoes to make sure he is still standing. He hears yells, the impact of a fist against a body, his mother's protests, two bodies falling on the ground._

_Only a couple of minutes of fight have passed when it ceases. A cry from his mother makes Zayn's body go cold. His father's feet are out of sight and there is no sound of body hitting the ground. That is, until Yaser's body falls less then four feet from his son's eyes.There are a few cuts on his face and blood soaking his shirt. He struggles to form words, mouth opening and closing. The suffering is too much but Zayn can't look away from his father's eyes as life disappears from it. A loud laugh cuts the air once he is dead._

_Zayn lies on his back, eyes facing the bed above him. He doesn't want to watch anymore. He doesn't want to pay attention to his mother's cries or to the sound of someone's body falling on the bed. He does pay attention the the words “Boss Matsumoto” someone utters as an offering. He remembers that name. His father once mentioned something about him being the most ruthless yakazuka boss. He won't ever forget that name now._

_A sword passes through the mattress and stops a few inches from Zayn's head. Blood soaks the mattress around the blade and drips on Zayn's face. Zayn weeps in silence. Flashes of his life with his parents are shown to him by his brain and he doesn't know how to stop them. Footsteps leave the room and a glass breaks somewhere in the bedroom. Fire catches and the room gets hotter._

_Zayn waits a whole minute before moving so he won't be seen. He looks at his parents' bodies and feels a rage consume him. He gets out of the house, gets to a safe distance and stares at it. Fire burns in his house and inside him. Boss Matsumono took away everything he had and he swears he will get his revenge._

 

_***_

 

_Two years isn't that long, really. Maybe he should thank Boss Matsumono for being a pedophile and making him getting his revenge much easier and faster. As if._

“ _Look at my eyes. Look at my lips.” Zayn whispers._

_Boss Matsumono is lying naked on his bed, his eyes are wide open in surprise. Having a child on top of him doesn't usually leads to him having a sword go through his stomach._

“ _Do you recognize them? Haven't you seen them before?”_

_Boss Matsumono is agonizing beneath him. Suffering and unable to make a sound, red pooling in his mouth. Good._

“ _Perhaps, someone you killed.”_

_Zayn takes the sword out of Matsumono's body and that's what does it. Zayn closes his eyes and revels in the feeling._

 


	5. Dinner In Tokyo.

Louis should be sleeping, instead he is sitting on folded legs on an apart-from-him empty soccer field close to his motel room trying to catch his breath. He spent the last hour and a half running and stopped now that it started to rain – but only to do series after series of push ups and pull ups, using the goal crossbar to do so. There's a thirteen hours flight that he needs to catch in seven hours and he has woken up screaming and crying way too many times these last three weeks for him to allow himself to close his eyes inside a plane.

It's been four years since his wedding day. It's been four years since he last saw Harry, inside their house, body lifeless on the ground by his side. It's been four years since he was beaten by his former Squad and shot by its leader. It's been four fucking years but to Louis it all happened three weeks ago.

It's only been three weeks since he woke up from a comatose state and had to figure out how to go about his life now. Three weeks that he doesn't go to sleep hugging Harry's middle and their legs tangled. Three weeks since he can't spend his days getting to know Harry better and feeling like he'll never get enough of all the small details. Three weeks since they last kissed and had sex and laughed and talked. Three weeks since he felt Harry's skin against his and looked into his eyes. Three weeks since his wedding day. Three weeks he forgets how to breathe when he thinks about what happened. Three weeks he swallows grief and replaces it with revenge. Three weeks he practices every hour he has to spare so he fills his mind with something other than a name he can't even bring himself to pronounce so he won't break. Three weeks dreaming memories that were and memories they won't be allowed to build together.

Water falls on and from his face. His body aches and he pretends that it's just from the run. Behind his eyelids flashes of green eyes and the sound of a laughter fill his head. Out of context sentences Harry spoke. The smell of the food he used to cook. The sound of skin crashing against skin.

Louis bites his lower lip until he tastes blood. He wills the images to become the Deadly Vipers Squad. And Buck. And a wedding ceremony. And Nick. Nick kissing him and calling him his. Nick teaching him a few tricks when they were alone. Nick telling him about his past. Nick shooting him in the head. He clenches his fists and feels the anger spreading again. That's better than dealing with pain.

Maybe if he runs for one more hour he will feel so exhausted he won't dream when he sleeps. Maybe he'll even be able to sleep for four whole hours, now that would be a new record. Well, at least since his four-year coma - that one was the real record.

 

***

 

It took Louis three weeks to collect all the information he needed. Not just information but also access to his money, new documents, new clothes, get back in shape and get tested for sexual diseases – luckily, he is clean. No, he still can't believe it.

The first name on his Death List – yes, he did make a list -, Zayn Malik, was the easiest to find. When one manages the hard task of becoming the king of the Tokyo underworld, one doesn't really keep it a secret, do they?

A year after the massacre in Massachusetts, Nick backed his Nippon progeny financially and philosophically in his almost Shakespearean-in-magnitude power struggle with the other yakuza clans over who would rule vice in the city of Tokyo. When the final sword was sheathed, it was Malik and his powerful posse, the Crazy 88, that proved the victor.

A lot of stories were told to Louis about Zayn and the people closest to him. Zayn doesn't look Japanese. His mother might have been Japanese and he might have been born in Tokyo, but his looks are all inherited from his half-American, half-Pakistani father. Louis didn't have to wonder for long how could a half-breed that doesn't even look like he belongs could become the bosses of all bosses in Tokyo. And, surprisingly, it had nothing to do with Zayn being so handsome he looks like a gift for everyone's eyes sent by Aphrodite, maybe even her own son, Himeros, to make up for everything ugly in the world. But that was a good guess.

Louis was narrated to that the subject of Malik's appearance, blood and nationality came up before the council only once, the night Zayn assumed power over the crime council. Boss Tanaka felt the need to express his opinion on the perversion that was happening in the council using words that no one would mistake for respectful, so Zayn felt the need to collect his head. Now no one questions it out loud anymore. People are way too found of their heads just where they are.

Malik's right hand, lawyer, best friend and second lieutenant is another former protégée of Nick's. Louis remembers the half-French half-Japanese Sofie Fatale. She was there when Louis was kicked and shot into coma. She didn't do anything, she just... watched. And calmly answered calls. She even laughed a couple of times while talking to someone on phone, if he remembers correctly. Apparently a massacre wasn't important enough to hold her attention. Louis feels insulted, really.

There were tales of a 17-year-old bodyguard named Gogo Yubari. From what Louis heard, what she lacks in age she makes up for in madness. A man was trying to hit on her in a bar once so she bluntly asked him if he wanted to fuck her. The guy beamed at her and didn't even got a chance to say yes because she stabbed his belly with a knife and moved the blade up until it got to his chest. She then started to giggle because she was the one who had penetrated him. Yes, she did make that joke.

The last person he cared enough to remember the name of was Johnny Mo. He is the head general of Malik's personal army, the Crazy 88. Louis was told he is bald and allergic to milk. Louis has no idea why someone thought that the last was a relevant information to give him.

To fight a Japanese personal army, Louis had to have Japanese steel. But not just any steel.

That's why he went to Okinawa, Japan, before flying to Tokyo. He had to find Hattori Hanzo. The man had retired years ago and swore that he would never again make an instrument of death. But Louis knew exactly what to say to make him break his oath.

The most important name in Louis' Death List is Nicholas Grimshaw. Nick used to be Hattori's student and still owns the sword his former master gave him. The amount of blood that object alone spilled would be more than enough for a few takes of The Shining's elevator scene. Louis only had to mention Nick's name for Hattori to offer to make a new katana for him. The man said he was philosophically sympathetic to his aim and, well, who wouldn't be?

Hanzo's attic was Louis' room for a month. Among clothes hanged to dry, closed boxes and twenty-one swords he slept and practiced day after day. By the end of the thirtieth day of his stay, he was given his own Hattori Hanzo steel. He was told by the sword maker that, with no ego, that was his finest work. Louis thanked the man and on the next day he was on a plane on his way to meet his first target.

 

***

 

Louis is dressed properly for the occasion, he thinks. He is in a blue leather jumpsuit because: 1- he loves blue; 2- it matches his eyes; 3- his ass looks nice. Even the motorbike he used to get to the restaurant is blue. And so are his shoes and helmet. He is quite proud of his shoes, actually. They have “fuck u” inscribed across the soles thanks to Louis himself. He will probably do that to every shoe he owns too. Maybe with different messages too, like “fuck off” and “fuck me”.

Louis sits at the bar watching the restaurant. There's a band called The 5, 6, 7, 8's performing and about fifteen people dancing. Scattered around the large room there's twenty tables with customers eating or waiting for their dinner. Through the front door there's Zayn Malik and his immediate subordinate walking in and being ushered by the restaurant with-way-too-big-smiles-on-their-faces-and-eager-to-please owners to a private room upstairs.

Louis recognizes Sofie Fatale in her out-of-Star-Trek uniform. There's a young girl wearing a high school uniform that can only be Gogo Yubari. Sure, she's still a girl, but it's a bit disturbing that she dresses like a teenager school girl all the time. She probably doesn't even go to school anymore. Or never went. Is there a high school that trains professional assassins in Japan?

The other four people with them all look like they are all ready for an all black masquerade ball. The bald one must be Johnny Mo. The masks are a bit too much if you ask Louis. What do they think they are, superheroes? - He secretly thinks the masks are pretty sick actually, but he would never admit that out loud.

There's a few ways Louis can go about this. He saw seven people going into the room so it's probably not very wise to go in there without a plan. He needs to draw them out. Perhaps he could ask the women from the band to let him use the mic. He could use it to call Zayn out and drop it. It would be fun for the people watching. Maybe. Okay, maybe not. He searches for a fire alarm.

After a few minutes pondering about what to do, he is shown the answer. Sofie Fatale walks out of the private room and heads to the ladies' room downstairs. Louis goes after her through the corridor and waits for her outside. He has no idea if the restroom is empty or not and he doesn't want to make other women uncomfortable with his presence. He is a gentleman, alright?

Fatale steps out of the door and before her third step Louis' right arm is around her neck, choking her.

“Sofie! What a coincidence to find you here!”, he quipped. “Will you help me talk to your boss, sweetie?”

Sofie tries to get his arm away from her neck unsuccessfully.

“Ah ah ah. Why can't we be willing to cooperate? You know, it will be much easier for you if you just do as I say, okay? We're going to walk to the dance floor and you're not going to run or scream. Then I'll let you go, that easy. Do you understand?” She nods. “Good girl. Now let's go talk to your boss.”

His hand grabs her arm to make sure she won't run while they walk out of the corridor. They stop at the end of the dancefloor, facing the private rooms upstairs. He tells her to stay quiet and to not move. He grabs his sword, waits for the band to finish the song they're currently playing and prepares his lungs.

“ _ZAYN MALIK. YOU AND I HAVE UNFINISHED BUSINESS.”_ Louis yells in Japanese _._

His voice is carried to every corner of the room. Everyone in the restaurant turns to look at him. He waits, eyes fixed in the private dining room's door.

The door slides open and the masked people rush out. Zayn and Gogo follow behind, but calmly. Zayn locks his eyes with Louis and his mouth moves and Louis can't read lips but he guesses he said something like “no fucking way”.

Louis said he would let go of Sofie so he does. Right after he uses his sword to cut her whole left arm off. He never said he would let her go harmless. Louis' eyes never leave Zayn so he notices when the man gasps. The masked men and women pull their swords. Sofie is screaming and spinning, blood staining the floor, Louis and herself. She falls on the ground and stays there.

Only when she stops screaming to cry in a lower tone and Louis steps forward that the people who were watching the scene start screaming and running to the closest exit. They're careful not to touch Louis and interfere in his stare contest with Zayn. Louis appreciate their manners.

When the loud steps from people running die down, Malik mutters “Hideki”. One of the masked men jumps to the ground floor, sword hand. Looks like it might take awhile to get to Zayn then.

 

***

 

Later in his life, Louis would look back to this fight and not remember much of it. He won't remember how many people were sliced by his blade, how many limbs laid forgotten on the ground, how many times swords clashed. He will remember fighting against Gogo.

The teenager used a meteor hammer against him. Louis had never seen anyone as skilled as her. He was knocked off his feet and almost chocked to death. His face was red and his sight was already blurring when he reached a piece of wood with a few sharp nails that was laid on the ground and hit Gogo's head with it.

From that moment on, everything was a blur of bodies and steel. The rest of the Crazy 88 got to the restaurant and made Louis' target harder to approach. Lots of them were slayed. Many were left an arm or a leg lighter. When finally no man or woman stood between Louis and Zayn, Louis could feel fatigue spreading though him and it was hard to catch his breath. His body was covered with cuts and bruises and swaying his sword wasn't as easy anymore.

"Your instrument is quite impressive." Zayn remarks.

Louis sometimes needs to remind himself that not everything in life is a sexual innuendo. Sadly. "All of Hattori Hanzo's are."

"Liar!" Zayn's eyes are sharp and cutting, much like the sword he holds. "I hope my men didn't tire you. If you wasted all your energy, you might not last five minutes with me."

Seriously, it's like Zayn is really trying to make this hard on Louis. Or maybe it's just Louis' brain. "We'll see."

They begin a dance that seems rehearsed. When Louis tries to hit Zayn's middle, his sword is there to stop the movement. Every step Louis takes back is followed by a step forward from Zayn. That is, until Louis spins and feels a cold blade cutting his back.

Louis falls to the ground. He can feel the blood running down his lower back.

"Silly American boy thinks it's fun to play with big samurai swords." Zayn spits. "You may not be able to fight like a samurai, but you can at least die like a samurai."

Louis winces and uses the sword to prop himself up. His legs shake a bit but he can still stand on his own feet. Something he can't and won't accept is Zayn making fun of his abilities. "Attack with everything you've got."

Steel meets steel and Louis tries to keep his balance. It hurts but everything hurts lately. He's lucky to have things to focus on other than pain. For example, the leg Malik is not protecting, leaving it exposed for Louis to hit as he makes his next movement.

They both limp away from each other. Zayn's free hand is clutching his right leg, almost touching the open wound. Malik gapes at the cut and swallows visibly. He straightens his posture then and his eyes find Louis'.

"For ridiculing you earlier... I apologize."

Of all the other Deadly Vipers, Zayn was the one Louis had always liked most. Before he fell for Harry, of course. Zayn is smart and he knows what he wants. He doesn't disrespect anyone who doesn't deserve. He is polite and quiet and has no problem admitting he was wrong. They could have been great friends if the circumstances were different.

"Accepted." Louis nods.

This time the movements aren't as neat, not as accurate. They move more than attack. Louis doesn't know how much longer he can take it. He is too tired and Zayn is still rested, even if limping. He needs to do something fast.

Their swords collide once, twice, three times. Louis forces Zayn to put his weight on his hurt leg and swings his sword one last time.

Blood splatters and the top of Zayn's head flies. Literally. Zayn's scalp hits the floor before his body does. His wide eyes and thunderstruck look are painted with recognition before losing its life. No one can say that Louis didn't warn that it was, indeed, a Hattori Hanzo sword.

 


	6. Or Forever Hold Your Peace.

“ _Are you nervous, baby cakes?”_

_Louis hugs Harry from behind. Harry leans back and puts his hands on top of Louis', brushing his thumb against the back of Louis' hand. The fabric of the suit Harry is wearing feels soft against Louis' cheek._

“ _Of course I am nervous. It's our wedding day. What if something goes wrong?”_

“ _It's all going to go perfectly, love. We've made it this far, haven't we?” Louis kisses his hair and tightens the hug a bit. “Everybody is here already. We should go downstairs and begin the ceremony.”_

“ _One last kiss as single men?” Harry suggests with a smile that shows all his teeth._

_Louis didn't think he could be so in love with someone. Harry could have suggested to go golfing before the ceremony and he would still have said yes. And he really hates golfing. Though the idea of it is really appealing: using a stick and balls to try to get things in the holes._

_Louis turns Harry around by his hips so they are chest to chest. Harry's arms wrap around Louis' neck. Louis' eyes drinks in Harry's face. The outline of his lips, his defined jawline, his green eyes. If he knew how to form the words, he could write dozens of books about this moment alone._

_Harry rests his hands on each side of Louis' head, bringing him closer, their foreheads touching. They do their best to not break their stare._

“ _I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” Harry shares it as he would share a secret. And Louis wants to bottle the air between their lips and noses. He wants to bottle the words Harry spoke and put them inside a treasure chest, away from everything that could shatter it._

_He knows that's impossible so he kisses Harry and wishes that the words would go down his throat and lodged inside his bones. Their kiss is all lips and smiles trying to break it while they insist on not breaking contact. Louis pecks his soon-to-be spouse lips one last time because his cheeks already hurt from trying not to let his grin split his face. Harry looks like he is having the same problem._

“ _I'm quite fond of you, Styles.” Eyes shouldn't shine as much as Harry's do. “Now let's go so I can make my girl Beyoncé proud by puttinng a ring on your finger.”_

_Harry's head is thrown back with the power of his laughter. Louis would replace all the songs in the world for that sound alone. They knock foreheads once more before pulling apart, Harry's chuckles disturbing the air between them. They intertwine their fingers and Harry guides their hands to his mouth so he can brush it softly against the back of Louis' hand._

_Louis doesn't know how he is able to keep all his feelings inside his body. This moment, this day, every day to come. Louis' life had to be the way it was for this to happen. Everything feels so right in the world. Every planet must be aligned or some shit like that._

_They amble out of the bedroom and down the staircase. Their house is still new so it doesn't feel like home yet when Louis looks around. But when his eyes wander back to Harry, he knows this will soon feel like it because Harry will be here. Harry feels like home already. They are almost at the patio door leading to the backyard when the sound of the door bell fills the living room._

“ _I thought you said everyone was here already?”_

_Through the glass door ahead of him he can see the reverend talking to the pianist Harry insisted they should have playing when they walked down the aisle. Mrs. Joseph, the lovely old lady who owns the bakery Harry started working at three months ago, is pointing a camera towards her beautiful granddaughters, the two flower girls for this wedding, who are pulling funny faces at each other. Her daughter couldn't make it because someone had to run the store during the ceremony. Louis' two coworkers from the record store he started working at and their neighbors, Sara and Mike are chatting in their seats._

_That's all the people they know. They haven't been in the city for long so they hadn't made many friends yet. Hell, he doesn't even know how they managed to befriend those people that were there to share this special moment with them. They were never very good at maintaining friendships before. So, yes, no one was missing._

“ _Yeah, everyone is here, love.” Louis frowned his eyebrows. “Maybe Mrs. Joseph daughter decided to close the bakery and come? She does like you a lot. Not that I blame her, you're adorable.”_

_Louis pinched Harry's cheek and received a “heyyy” from him. “I'll go check, you can go on and let our guests know we're about to exchange fake surnames.”_

“ _Will do, sweet-cheeks. Don't be too long or I'll miss you.” Harry smirks and with over the top gestures grabs Louis' face to kiss his lips with a loud 'muah' sound. Louis tries to fake disgust for such fake sappiness but his giggles are proof that he failed. He s still getting to know this side of Harry and he loves every second of it._

_Louis spins on his heels and feels Harry smacking his bum. He turns his face to blow a kiss to Harry, who catches it and directs his hand that is holding the kiss to his crotch, as he walks though the living room and to the front door. The smile that was still lingering on his face dies when he opens the door. Louis freezes._

“ _Hello, Lou.”_

_Nick's eyes travel down and up his body, taking in his shoes, his suit, the changes in his face. Louis' eyes want to do the same but they are fixed on Nick's face. Not even his eyes can move._

_Louis' mouth opens but no words come out of it._

“ _So, I heard today is a special day for you. I guess I my invitation got lost in the mail. Luckily, I'm here anyway. Won't you invite me in?” Nick tilts his head to the side._

_Louis tries not to shiver. He is used to obeying Nicholas, so even though he wants to scream 'no' at the top of his lungs and protect this moment from Nick, he can't. And he knows it's best if he doesn't._

_Two steps back allow Nick to enter the house. Louis closes the door. He tries to look outside to find Harry but Nick's voice calls for his attention before he succeeds._

“ _You know something that upsets me? I would never have said no to a menagé with the two of you. Would have loved to be a part of it, even. What a shame you never asked. But I guess it's your loss more than mine.”_

_Nick's already seated on the sofa, making himself comfortable._

_Louis fights to find words._

_"Nick, I- I." Louis swallows and tries again. His palms are sweating. “How did you find me?”_

“ _I'm the man.” Nicholas leans forward, hands folded together, elbows resting on each knee. "I'll always find you, Tommo.”_

_Louis is ashamed. He is so fucking ashamed. Things weren't supposed to happen like that. He admired Nick. Fuck, he used to feel something akin to love for him – but not the same as he feels for Harry; never the same. It wasn't in his plans for Nick to ever find out how much of a shit he was to him._

_"Love, whenever you're ready. The pianist said he-", Harry's voice dies once Nick is in his eye sight._

_Harry's mouth is a thin line while he stares at Nick on the living room. He glances at Louis, who is still by the door. Louis looks back at him and tries to make sure Harry knows he didn't know Nick would come. He would never do that to Harry. To them. Something in his eyes must have sent the right message because Harry nods and goes back to trying to make sure Nick knows he wished for Nick to be anywhere else but here and it would be better if also dead, thank you, with just a look._

_"Nicholas." Harry's voice is tight._

_"Well, hello, Harold." Nick only moves his head to the man. "I guess congratulations are in order. Since it is your wedding day."_

_Harry huffs and doesn't even try to fake a smile._

“ _I was just about to tell Louis here that I am quite disappointed with my skills. I mean, I was there the whole time, I should have been a better wingman. But of course, I had no idea you were interested.”_

_"What do you want, Nick?" Louis is emotionally tired already. He shouldn't have to feel at the top of the world and change to the bottom of it so fast._

_"Well, considering our history, I thought I deserved to be part of this important day of your lives. I even planned something for you!"_

_A scream pierces the air. It comes from their backyard. The sound is followed by more screams and gun fires. More than Louis can keep track of._

_Harry and Louis wide eyes meet._

_"My surprise arrived! I brought the rest of the Deadly Vipers with me! I hope you don't mind."_

 


	7. News Are Delivered.

Nicholas arrived at the Tokyo General Hospital only thirty-eight hours after Sofie Fatale did. Their small conversation echoing on his brain ever since they ended the call.

“ _Tomlinson is alive. He killed Zayn.”_

He walks into Sofie's hospital room.

She covers her face with her right hand and bows her head when she sees him. She looks so small on her hospital bed. He notices her left arm isn't attached to her body anymore.

“Ooh, my poor Sofie.”

“I am so ashamed. Forgive me, Nick.” Her whisper is barely heard.

“Forget it, doll.” He approches the bed and gently strokes her cheek. “Tell me what happened to you.”

“After he”, there's a lump in her throat she tries to swallow. She's so brave, his Sofie. “Killed Zayn, he put me in the trunk of my car. He drove for a while and when he stopped it, he tortured me. He threatened to cut my other arm off. I had no choice, Nick.”

Nick can see that she's fighting back tears. “I'm so sorry for what that horrible person did to my beautiful and incredible Sofie. Stop apologizing.” Nick tries to soothe her. “What did he want, darling?”

“He wanted information on the Deadly Vipers. Everything I knew. Where they are and what they're doing.”

“And if you had to guess why he kept you alive?”

She blinks slowly. “I don't have to guess, he informed me. He said he allowed me to keep my wicked life for two reasons. First, for information. And the second reason was so I could tell you everything that happened and all the things I told him in person. So you could witness the extent of his mercy by witnessing my deformed body. So you know what he knows and so you and the Vipers are warned that he's coming for each and every one of you. That you'll soon gonna be all dead, like Zayn.”

Nick nods and holds her hand. “One more thing, Sofie.”

She's staring at her lap.

“Is he aware that Styles is alive?”

 

***

 

“Y'er telling me he cut his way through eighty-eight bodyguards before he got to Malik?” Liam gapes at his brother.

“No, there weren't eighty-eight of them. They only call themselves that.”

Nick hadn't seen Liam in years. His hair is longer than three years ago, his skin looks dirtier. Not like he didn't shower in the last couple of hours, but like he tends to not shower at all most days then not. Liam wears a stained tank top and jeans that look like he used them to roll around on the sand ground.

“Why? They think it sounds cool? Sorry... _thought,_ ” the corner of Liam's mouth twitches upward.

“Well, I guess we can't ask them anymore, can we? We'll never know.”

“They should have called themselves the Crazy 69. That would at least be a good name for a porn movie.” Liam's laughter cuts through the air and he only stops to drink more beer from the bottle he holds.

Nick doesn't want to laugh but he chuckles anyway. His brother is childish and can't seem to take anything seriously. He just told him Louis is coming for him and he doesn't seem to understand that this is not a time for jokes.

“Anyway, they all fell under his Hanzo sword.” Nick attempts to get this conversation back on track.

“He got himself a Hattori sword?” Finally the serious tone Nick was looking for.

“Yes, Hattori himself made him a new one.”

Liam frowns. “Didn't Hattori swear never to make another one?”

“It seems that he broke his oath.”

“He sure knows how to hold a grudge that one. Or perhaps it's just you that tends to bring that out in people, huh?” Liam shakes his head more to himself than to Nick and takes another sip of his beer.

“Brother, I know this might sound weird, we haven't spoken in so long and our last conversation wasn't really... pleasant. But would you come with me? Let me protect you.” Nick offers.

“Thanks, Nick. I'm fine just the way I am.” Liam is firm when he declines.

“I can't protect you here in Texas. You're living in a goddamn trailer, for Christ's sake! This is serious. Louis is coming for you and, without my assistance, I'm pretty sure you'll die.”

Liam looks up to the blue sky from the stairs of his trailer. He closes his eyes. “Than man deserves his revenge.” He opens his eyes again and they find Nick's. “And we,” Liam uses the hand that is holding the beer bottle to point with his index finger first at himself and then at Nick. “Deserve to die.”

Nick looks down to his feet. This is not something he allows himself to think about.

“But then again,” Liam continues. “So does he. So I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has nothing to do with the chapter but the bears just posted a photo of RBB reading "The Little Book of Calm" and I just want people to know that I love them a lot, okay? Okay.


	8. Six Feet Under.

It would be a lie to say that he didn't expect this from Liam. He was never very smart and all he had done in his life was to stay under his brother's wings. So it isn't really a surprise to Louis that without Nick's protection he ended up living in an old trailer in the middle of nowhere, Texas, working at a strip club by the road that no one with actual taste would attend and drinking his life away.

Liam just returned home from work and Louis is now getting out from his hiding place under the mobile home to welcome him back. Liam is already inside and listening to Johnny Cash. Louis crouches beside the three steps that lead to the door to sneak a peek at the inside of the place. Liam's feet are pointing to the door. He seems to be sat on a chair facing the entrance. Louis will be able to see his reaction then. Good.

Louis's got his sword in his hands and red in his eyes. He readies himself and kicks the door. He bursts in and then he... is thrown back by the heavy impact on his chest. His not sure why but he's lying on the ground, sword lost during his fall, thorax burning and having trouble to breathe.

He can hear footsteps as he coffs blood inside his own mouth. This looks way too familiar for his liking.

"That gentled you down some, didn't it?"

Liam stands too close to him as he's trying to breathe through the pain, a tear he didn't allowed to exist running down his face, maybe he will be able to at least kick Liam once. At the moment it hurts just to think about sitting up.

Liam takes the knife from Louis' leg sheath and throws if far from them. He does the same to the knife on his ankle and kicks his katana further than it was before.

"You don't look so tough with a double dose of rock salt on you, do you?"

Liam is crouched close to him now. Louis takes it as an opportunity to fight back anyway he can, which unfortunately means to spit blood on Liam's face only. He wishes those rock salts didn't hurt so much and didn't leave him so momentarily disabled.

Safe to say that Liam is displeased with Louis' action, by the way he spits back.

"I win."

How childish of him, really. Louis grunts and tries to take his fist to greet Liam's cheek but Liam throws him around so his belly is against the ground. Fuck, it hurts more than before. Not a nice feeling to have a wound rubbed against soil with several small rocks on it.

Before he has time to think of something to say, Louis is stabbed in the bum with a needle. Slowly, everything turns black.

 

***

 

When he blinks his eyes open is because Liam is throwing him on the ground from the back of a truck. His chest is much better but the force of the impact makes it sting again. His hands are tied but not his feet.

"Before you consider being stupid, let me tell you what will happen."

Liam kneels beside him.

"Oh, so you're _that_ kind of villain? Can you keep talking until I manage to run away?" Louis' voice is a bit strained but he gets it out.

"Ha. You think you're so funny. I always thought you were a piece of shit."

Liam points somewhere to his right so Louis points his head to that direction. They are at a graveyard. The sky is dark but with bright stars as a contrast; he can't hear any cars passing by or other people talking or walking. There's just the two of them and a guy resting his elbow on a shovel by a recently dug hole. He can't read the name on the tombstone but the cheap-looking coffin is opened not far from it so he guesses it doesn't really matter because it won't match the person that will rest there. Not anymore.

"That's where you gonna live now. Well, not really live because you'll die." Liam chuckles to himself. "Since I'm a nice dude, I'm going to give ya an option. You can either behave yourself and go down with a flashlight to keep you company or", Liam pauses to bring a can close to his eye with his right hand and show him the flashlight with the left one, "I'm going to use this can of Mace here to burn your eyes inside your skull and then the flashlight won't be of much use, will it? Either way, you're going underground tonight. Pick how you want to go."

Louis can hear the third man laughing. He has no fucking idea who that guy is but his smile is just wrong and Louis already hates him. He can feel the panic building. There's no way he can get out of this one. Of all people he thought that could kill him, he would never have guessed that Liam would be the one to succeed.

"What's it gonna be?"

Getting words out might be impossible now so he points at the flashlight with his head.

"Smart choice." Liam looks at the man with the wicked smile and says, "you grab the feet. I'll grab the head."

They put him inside the coffin and Louis should have fought more against it, he knows it. Not that it would have made much of a difference but he would be able to tell to himself that he didn't go without a struggle. Instead he was too lost in his head, trying to think of a way out and listening to the voice that told him that this isn't how it's supposed to end.

He tries not to cry. At least not when Liam can still see and hear him.

"Here's your flashlight." Liam pushes it against Louis' hands.

The last thing Liam says before he closes the lid is, "this is for breaking my brother's heart."

The sound of the nails being driven into the wood echoes inside the coffin and Louis' head. Louis knows he should be saving air but he is panting faster and faster. When he feels the coffin moving, he feels tears running down his face. The coffin hitting the inside of the hole makes him sob.

He doesn't know how long the rumbling sounds last. It's like when you nap for five minutes but dream a whole and complete story that lasts hours in your mind. But this is not a dream. It's not even a nightmare. It's panic. Louis whimpers through the whole thing. Loud thuds and creaking sounds make him gasp, wince and sob.

A grunting sound reaches his ear muffled by the soil above him and his own cry. And then the exterior sounds cease. Louis starts screaming then. As he screams he can only think of Harry. And it hurts that much more that he won't be able to avenge his death.

No. Louis can't think like that. He can't afford to think like that. He has a mission, one that he owes to Harry and to himself to finish. He tries to calm down. His whimpers are softer now and his breaths are deeper. He counts the seconds of his inhales and exhales.

Maybe he can still find a way out. He can't give up. He won't.

 

***

 

_Somewhere in China._

 

_"Once upon a time in China - some believe around the year, one-double knot-three -, head priest of The White Lotus Clan, Pai Mei, was walking down the road contemplating whatever a man with Pai Mei's infinite power would contemplate."_

_Nick pauses and looks at Louis with a smirk._

_"Which is another way of saying, 'who knows?'."_

_Their chuckles break the desert silence. Louis is glad for the fire pit between them keeping them warm and also making this story look so much more mystical and interesting even though it's only the beginning of it. Although since he is soon to meet the man, he would have paid attention to anything Nick had to say about him. Actually, he would have paid attention to anything Nick had to say about anything, period._

_"When, a Shaolin monk appeared on the road traveling in the opposite direction. As the monk and the priest crossed paths. Pai Mei, in a practically unfathomable display of generosity, gave the monk the slightest of nods. The nod, was not returned. Now was it the intention of the Shaolin monk to insult Pai Mei? Or, did he just fail to see the generous social gesture? The motives of the monk, remain unknown. What is known, were the consequences."_

_Nick loves dramatic pauses. Louis has to admit he tells a story like no other he ever met. He knows when to pause, when to look at the listener and raise his brows or nod his head. His voice raises and lower at the right moments._  
  
"The next morning Pai Mei appeared at the Shaolin Temple,and demanded that the temple's head Abbot offer Pai Mei his neck to repay the insult. The Abbot, at first, tried to console Pai Mei, only to find, Pai Mei was inconsolable. So began, the massacre of the Shaolin Temple, and all sixty of the monks inside, at the fists of the White Lotus. And so began, the legend of Pai Mei's Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique."  
  
This time the pause stretches for too long for Louis' liking. Almost as if Nick knows how much Louis is impatient and wants to leave him waiting so he can ask questions and look even more interested. Nick can be a little shit sometimes. But a lovely one. Louis indulges him. "And what, pray tell, is a Five-Point Palm Exploding heart technique?"

_"Well, I'm glad you asked, Louis dearest. It's, quite simply, the deadliest blow in all of martial arts." Nick puts his right hand up and points all five fingers and its palm to Louis' direction, almost like he is imitating the position Louis' hands fall into whenever he is practicing Tiger Crane or fighting in his missions. "He hits you with his fingertips at five different pressure points on your body. And then lets you walk away"_

_It's Louis' turn to raise an eyebrow to Nick's direction._

_"But once you've taken five steps... Your heart explodes inside your body. And you fall to the floor, dead._

_"Did he teach you that?"_

_"No. He teaches no one the Five-Point-Palm Exploding-Heart Technique." Nick looks a bit disappointed but Louis won't mention it and pretends he doesn't notice. "Now, one of the things I've always liked about you, Tommo, is you appear wise beyond your years. So, allow me to impart a word to the wise: whatever, whatever Pai Mei says, obey. If you flash him, even for an instant, a defiant eye, he'll pluck it out. And if you throw any American sass his way he'll snap your back and your neck like they were twigs. And that will be the story of you."_

 

***

 

Louis might have found a way out.

He remembers his training with Pai Mei. He remembers Nick telling him about the legend that is Pai Mei and taking him to the man in China to ask him if he would take Louis as his pupil and teach him his Kung Fu style technique, Bak Mei. The Shaolin however, didn't look as pleased as Louis was with his training at first. When they met, he decried his Mandarin, called his swordsmanship "amateur at best" and his Kung Fu pathetic. He made Louis fight him, first with a Jian from his rack on the garden and then with his Kung Fu, but no blow seemed to surprise him - he dodged every blow without difficulty. He humiliated Louis and almost broke his arm. In pain, Louis admitted that Pai Mei was superior and acknowledged his subservience. That's what it took for Pai Mei to announce that the training would begin the next day.

He remembers barely missing Nick, even when it got hard, because he was too focused on learning. At least that's what he told himself when he missed the idea of Nick by his side and felt a bit guilty for not missing _him_ as much as he thought he would. He remembers waking up at way-too-early o'clock in the morning (as if one would call the still dark sky 'morning'), carrying buckets of water up and down a stony wall, learning to eat with chopsticks even when his hands were trembling because otherwise he would have to eat if off the ground - if he wanted to be treated as a human, he had to eat like one.

But the one memory he focus on is one of Pai Mei's voice.

_"What would you do if your enemy was standing three inches from you? Curl into a ball or put your fist through him?"_

He was forced to punch a piece of wood every day from his third week of training until his final day. His hands were always bleeding and more times than not, he thought he had broken his bones. The other times he was sure. He got better eventually, though. He has't trained it in such a long time that he has no idea if he will succeed but this is the only chance he has. His last hope.

The switchblade he took from the jerk in the hospital is inside his left boot. He succeeds in taking his shoes off (he is so glad his wish to be taller never came true) and dragging it up to his hands. He takes the blade and puts his arms in an uncomfortable position to be able to cut the piece of rope tying his wrists.

Once his hands are free, Louis knocks on the wood in front of him in different spots so he can hear the best place for him to strike. He finds it.

"It's the wood that should fear your hand, not the other way around." He repeats the words his former master once told him to himself. And so he begins to punch the coffin.

 


	9. Black Mamba Is A Metaphor.

This second plan is much better than the first one, really.

It took Louis less than a week to get a snake delivered to him. He filled his spare time in his motel room researching about black mambas. Interesting creatures they are. That's why he's got Liam laid in a coffin with a snake for company.

Sneaking into Liam's trailer wasn't difficult when Liam wasn't expecting him to be alive. Drugging him in his sleep and putting him in the truck was quite easy too. Not really Louis' favorite thing to do, take someone down without offering them the chance to fight for their lives but he was still a bit shaken by last time.

"You know, I really wanted to find you as soon as I got out of the grave and punch your face until it wouldn't be recognizable anymore. But you made me like the idea of burying."

It is true. Louis felt the need to bury himself - metaphorically, of course. He had died over four years ago, almost five already. Even if his body kept functioning, there was no Harry. He doesn't want to be one of those people that live for someone else and that act like somebody else is everything. He is his own person. But... things are so different now.

Right now he is just anger, fury and a mission to hold on to. The moment he gets his revenge, he doesn't know what there will be left for him. Maybe it will be enough to move on. He wants to believe that, he does. He is not inside a coffin anymore but it feels like there's nowhere he can go, like what he is doing is fighting to reach the surface again - what he's been trying to do ever since he woke up in the hospital. He's been trying to fight to breathe again. He's been desperately trying to find air after Nick and the Vipers took Harry from him.

He's going to need a new life after this. A new beginning. For that to happen, he has to bury who he was. He'll be left with nothing after his roaring rampage of revenge. Nothing but grief. He wants to bury being part of the Deadly Vipers as well, he thinks he needs that. And what a better way to do that than put an actual black mamba six feet under with a victim to kill - because of course he would never go down without taking others with him. Inside his head that's the only thing that makes sense anymore.

Louis figures Liam is already paralyzed inside the closed coffin so now would be a great time to explain what is going to happen to him, just like he once did to him.

"So, Liam, here's the thing. That lovely lady who just kissed you is a black mamba. Black mamba, that man you just had your way with is Liam. I forgot to introduce you before she bit you, what a horrible matchmaker!"

Louis kicks the coffin into the hole he dug. He chose the same graveyard Liam did the week before. They really need to hire some security guards here. Or is this a Texas thing? Well, there was the hospital as well so maybe it's an United States thing.

"I memorized the whole thing! I wanted to be an actor as a little kid, you know? I'm really good at remembering this shit. Anyway, I found this on Wikipedia so I can guarantee this is true." Louis' voice is louder now, as if he was performing a monologue center stage. "In Africa, the saying goes 'in the bush, an elephant can kill you, a leopard can kill you, and a black mamba can kill you. But only with the black mamba - and this has been true in Africa since the dawn of time - is death sure.' Hence its handle - 'death incarnate.' Pretty cool, huh? I always loved that code name. It's fitting."

Louis smiles to himself. He goes to grab the shovel but doesn't stop talking. "The bite of the black mamba can potentially cause collapse in humans within forty-five minutes or less. Its neurotoxic venom is one of nature's most effective poisons, acting on the nervous system causing paralysis. Without effective anti-venom therapy, death typically occurs in seven to fifty hours - don't you love not knowing how long you're gonna last? - The amount of venom that can be delivered from a single bite can be gargantuan. Ten to fifteen milligrams can be fatal to human beings. However, the black mamba can deliver as much as 100 to 400 milligrams of venom from a single bite. Now, the best part for me is that, the head of the snake is often said to be 'coffin-shaped' with a somewhat pronounced brow ridge and a medium-sized eye. That's how I was sure this was the right way to kill you. Coffin-shaped! Isn't it brilliant?"

It is. Everything about this seems to fit into the puzzle. After this, there will be only one piece missing. One last name to cross off his Death List. It will be time to let the earth fall on top of him and be buried. And, just like now, he will be the one holding the shovel and pouring the gravel.

 


	10. Memory Is The Past That Insists On Haunting You.

“ _I don't think I can do this anymore.”_

_Louis is tired. Hiding their relationship from Nick is exhausting. To pretend to love Nick and that he feels nothing towards Harry is getting harder and harder._

_It wasn't supposed to happen like this. He was never meant to fall in love._

_"Do you want us to be over?" Harry's voice lower than usual. They're in a hotel in Los Angeles, naked beneath sheets and holding on to each other before it's time for Louis to get on a plane and report his last successful mission to Nick._

_"Harry." Louis turns Harry around so they are facing each other. He's not used to seeing Harry look so insecure. He wants Harry to understand how much he wants this, them. He wants him to read it in his eyes. He is not sure he can pronounce the words he really feels yet. Maybe some other words will be enough. "I want to be with you. I can't think of anything else I want more. It's just so complicated. I want us to stay us and the situation to be different. I just don't know what to do"_

_Harry nods and closes his eyes. "What if we run away?"_

_Green eyes are back to looking into his and then studying his reaction._

_"Run away?"_

_"Yes. We can plan this better later but I just. I want a normal life. And a cat. I want to be able to have a cat. And I want to have time to get to know all of you. These stolen hours every now and then are not enough, Lou."_

_It could be a good idea. Disappear, live a normal life. Maybe even have kids someday. Louis thinks he might want that someday. And the only person he can think of to share all of that is Harry, and that's what is being offered to him right now._

_"I think... I think it might be a good idea, Harry."_

 

_***_

 

“ _I love you.”_

_It's only the second time he tells Harry so. The words should feel strange coming from his lips but they don't. They don't feel so strange because they were there in the air around them so many times before. They are there when he insists on kissing Harry everyday at five a.m. before he goes to the bakery because he is too afraid to let him go. It's there when he makes them a especial dinner even though he can't cook and almost sets the kitchen on fire. Twice._

_"And I can guarantee it is not in my plans to abandon you. I love you so much, Harry. More than anything."_

_They have this habit of sharing bits of themselves when they lie on their bed. Quiet secrets spoken in the dark, always before the Sun is out to break the comfort of the darkness. It started weeks ago and they would share small facts only. Their first pet, first real crush, favorite TV show. But then Harry asked about his family and Louis told him about his sisters. About his homophobic stepfather and being kick out of the house. About being hit by kids on the streets. About how he started to take Kung Fu lessons from a man that took pity on him and how Nick found him after six months and saw the potential he had and took him in as his protégé._

_Harry started talking more after that. He told Louis about how his father died because the factory he worked for used carcinogen materials and how he got fired when he found out about the materials and confronted his supervisor about it. How they lost the lawsuit and were left with nothing. About how his mother got sick and died less than a year after his father did and he was left alone because his sister went away. How he started to plan his revenge and how Nick helped him. He went after the factory owners and a few months ago, in their first mission together, he was finally able to finish what he had started because the target was the factory's lawyer._

_Harry told him he didn't like Louis at first because he envied him. He was in love with Nick but Nick had never felt the same, though they were together for a while. When Louis got into the picture, Harry said Nick forgot about him and just pretended to care. He was easily discarded. And Harry couldn't understand why. Louis was good, yes, but so was Harry. Harry needed Nick's approval more than anything. Yes, Nick had told him he loved him, but now he understands that he never did. And it made him angry that all the things he ever loved were never really his for long. Everyone left. And it also made him scared that Louis would leave as well._

_So Louis tells Harry how much he loves him. That he doesn't plan on leaving. That he will never abandon him. He will say it more often. He will send texts in the middle of the day and he will kiss it on his body when they are alone. He will shout it if he has to and then whispers it for Harry's ears only. He intends to spend the rest of his life reminding him how much he loves him._

_"Will you marry me, Harry?"_

 


	11. The Final Chapter.

The valet holds the door of the black Porsche open so Louis can get out of the car. Louis nods to him as he steps out. The Pussy Wagon had been a good companion and he even was a bit fond of it by the end, but he is glad he doesn't have to be on the receiving end of scandalized glances every time he arrives anywhere anymore.

He walks into Costa Careyes with his katana on his back. There's no need to stop and ask for information. Nick always stays in the same room number, wherever he goes: 101. He says it's his favorite number. Louis secretly thinks it might be because his favorite movie as a kid was 101 Dalmatians but he never dared to ask.

Louis had to go to Acuña, also in Mexico, to find out where Nick is. Once he was there, it wasn't very difficult, actually. All he had to do was ask Marissol Vihaio, a friend of Nick's mother when he was a kid. After his mother died, she had looked after him for a while and Nick always thought of her as a second mother. Marissol runs a brothel in Acuña and if anyone was to know where Nick was hiding, it was her.

Turns out that Louis was right.

_"Nick's at the Costa Careyes Resort on the Costa Alegre. Do you know why I help you?"_

_"No."_

_"Because he would want me to."_

_"I find that hard to believe."_

_"How else would he see you again, Louis?"_

That's how he finds himself with only a wood door between him and his last target. Louis looks right and left to see if anyone is coming his way and takes his gun out. Knocking wouldn't be his first option, though he's done that before, so he tries to turn the doorknob and hopes it it unlocked. To his surprise, it is.

The footsteps don't make any sound as he treads in. He is careful not to take his eyes off the room as he closes the door behind him. It wouldn't be very pleasant to be disturbed by room service. Though he might order something after and use Nick's name. It's not like he'll be able to pay once he's dead anyway.

Louis inspects the room. Down the three steps ahead of him, bathed by yellow lights and with jazz as ambient music, is a big U-shaped couch and a coffee table, but most importantly, Nick's Hanzo sword is on display. There are other furniture close to the walls and to his right there's a small bar. Louis checks outside but the huge patio is also empty. The only way to go is up then.

Upstairs there's two closed doors. Behind the first one is a bedroom with two closed suitcases resting against the wall but not the owner. The prize is behind the second door then.

When he opens the last door, the person at the end of his aim is not who he thought it would be.

Lying on the bed, with his eyes closed, no shirt on and half of his body under the covers is Harry. He seems to be asleep, chest softly rising and falling.

Louis' hands on his gun start to shake. He wants to scream and he wants to cry. He wants to run and hold Harry in his arms but he's afraid that it will break the spell. This must be an hallucination and he is not sure he is ready to shatter it so he can't move. He can't speak. His chest burns and it spreads to his whole body while he struggles to keep standing.

Before he has time to act or crumble, arms come into his vision, his wrist is grabbed and squeezed, his gun is taken away from his hands. Nick points the handgun to Louis and steps back.

"Hi, love. We've been waiting for you. How was the trip?" Nicholas voice isn't loud, as if not to disturb the sleeping body close to them. "I see you have your sword with you so this is what it's going to happen" he moves his aim from Louis to Harry. "Put it down and kick it to me or I'll shoot Harry. Make a sound loud enough to wake him up and I'll shoot him. It's your call."

Inside his head his mind screams 'no' and he needs to control his emotions. He can't lose Harry again, not when he just found out he's still alive. So Louis nods and tries to make no noise as he places his katana on the floor and kicks it over to Nick.

"Good boy. Now, let's go downstairs so we can talk properly, shall we?"

Louis is reluctant to leave Harry's side but he knows there's nothing he can do so he leads the way to the living room. He is still not able to speak. There's a lot he wants to ask and he is not sure where he would like to start. Nick follows him down right after picking the sword up.

"Sit, please."

Louis sits on the couch and Harry sits across from him and places the sword to his side. The gun is still in his right hand, pointing to Louis.

"You know, it's been five years since I last saw you and you still look just as beautiful. Even more, actually."

Louis scoffs at that. "And you look ancient."

"Now that's my Louis! I've missed you, darling."

"Really? That's sure different from the last time we saw each other. When you, you know, put a bullet in my head."

"You're not one to put the past behind, are you? It was ages ago. You should get rid of all that grudge, it's not good for your skin."

"Maybe you're right. I can see what it did to yours."

Nick puts his free hand on his chest as if he was hit. "Ouch. You wound me. I'm still a kid at heart."

"Can we focus on what is important?" Harry. Harry is alive. That's the most important thing ever.

"Isn't my heart important?" Louis raises an eyebrow at him. "Okay, we can get serious. I was just trying to break the tension. I got you talking, didn't I? First of all, I'd like to ask about your sword. Was it really made by Hanzo-san? I thought he had made an oath not to make any more beautiful steel that brings death or some shit like that?"

"The one and only. He didn't take much convincing to break his oath, you know? I only had to drop your name. When it comes to you, his skin is in the worst condition. That must be your especial charm."

"Hm, I see. And I thought I was still his best pupil. Is his sushi any better?"

"I can't say if it's better but I can guarantee it's fucking awful."

Nick laughs shortly and shakes his head. "Very well then. Before this tale of sons of Nemesis reach its climax, I want to ask you a few questions and I want you to tell me the truth. You can ask whatever question you want later and I'll answer it truthfully. However, there lies a dilemma. Because when it comes to the subject of me, I believe you are truly and utterly incapable of telling the truth. And when it comes to the subject of me", Nick puts his hand on his own chest. It's impressive how much he can use the rest of his body while still pointing a weapon to Louis. "I am truly and utterly incapable of believing anything you say. I'm sure you can understand that."

Nick stands up and goes to the bar counter, finally dropping both hands. He grabs two glasses and then a whiskey bottle and pours a dose into one of them and takes a sip.

"How do you suppose we solve this dilemma?" Louis crosses his arms in front of him.  
  
"Well, it just so happens I have solution." Nick puts the glass down and goes behind the counter.

"Is my nose going to grow if I lie?" Louis quips.

"Not quite."

Nick's sudden movements make more sense when Louis feels the sharp pain of a needle penetrating the skin on his leg. The fluid spreading inside his body stings. His body leans forward with the pain of the impact and he tries really hard to mutter 'fuck' under his breath instead of screaming it.

"What the fuck did you just shoot me with!?"

Nick beams at him. "I created this thing I call 'The Undisputed Truth'. My greatest creation! Well, at least it's my favorite. It's a truth serum. See, I'm not just good looks."

Louis moves his hands to the syringe but Nick's warning stops his movement. "Touch that fucking thing before I tell you you can and I'll shoot another one on your cheek. And a bullet on your knee. And I really don't want any stain on that sofa, I don't want to have to explain that later."

Louis pants and tries to count the seconds he spends breathing in, holding it and breathing out. Breathing exercise might be his new 'thing'. "How long?"

"Soon enough. I'll talk a little and by the time I finish it it will be working. It's very fast. And it doesn't have all the druggie side effects most serums do. Some people reported they felt some euphoria even. Can you feel it?"

"Euphoria?" Louis wants to laugh at that. Not an euphoria laugh but a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me-I-hope-you-die-a-slow-death-you-asshole laugh. "I wouldn't describe it as that. Not even close."

"Too bad." Nick takes another shot of whiskey. "As you know, I'm quite keen on comic books. Especially the ones about superheroes. I find the whole mythology surrounding superheroes fascinating. Take my favorite superhero, Superman. Not a great comic book. Not particularly well-drawn. But the mythology... The mythology is not only great, it's unique."

Usually Louis would complain about Nick's poor choice of favorite superhero but previous discussions about it remind him that that's not a conversation he wants to start.

"Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He's weak. He's unsure of himself. He's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race. Sorta like Louis Tomlinson and David Kane.

"Ah!The point emerges."

"You would've worn the costume of David Kane. But you were born Louis Tomlinson. And every morning when you woke up, you'd still be Louis Tomlinson. Oh, you can take the needle out.”

Louis takes the needle out and throws it away. He needs to remember to step on it later to watch it break and suffer. Yes, objects can suffer, shut up. "Are you calling me a superhero?"

"I'm calling you a killer. A natural born killer. You always have been, and you always will be. Moving to Hyannis, working in a used record store, going to the movies with Harry, making barbecues for your neighbors. That's you, trying to disguise yourself as a worker bee. That's you trying to blend in with the hive. But you're not a worker bee. You're a renegade killer bee. And no matter how much beer you drank or barbecue you ate or how fat your ass got, nothing in the world would ever change that. Killing all those people to get to me, did you like it? Did it feel good?"

"Yes."

"Every single one of them?"

"Yes."

"So my question is: did you really think your life in Massachusetts was gonna work?

"No."

The word comes out way too fast. He wants to scream 'yes, of course it would', but he knows it's not true so he can't form the words. Living in Hyannis would have never worked for too long. Louis knew that. Nick knew that. Harry knew that. That's what changes everything. Harry _knew_.

"No, I didn't. But I had Harry. The city would bore us and that life would bore us but we would never get tired of each other. We weren't planning on staying for too long. We kept fighting against each other to practice because we missed it. We would have found a way to make things work wherever we were."

"Funny. He said the same thing when I asked him that. Though to be honest, he wasn't going to miss killing as much as you would. Did he tell you how he got into this?"

Louis nods. He remembers that conversation very well. Harry lying on the bed by his side, sharing his past with Louis in a dark because all the secrets come out easier when the moon is out. He remembers the tears running down his face while Harry insisted on looking up to the ceiling.

"He wanted revenge and he got it. All the anger he had was gone and he had you. He did like killing people, yes, but he was never a natural born killer like you. And I think you would loathe him for that after a few years. I know that's one of the reasons I never corresponded his love when we first met."

"Don't you dare say how I would feel! You have no idea." Louis' blood boils in his vein. But he wants answers first. Then he can do what he came here to do. "Are you quite finished? It's my turn to ask."

Nick nods for him to go on.

All the questions running around his head can be narrowed down to a single one. "How come Harry is still alive?"

"What a surprising question! I had no idea you were going to ask me that! I don't think I'm prepared to answer it. I should have written a letter so I could read it now!"

Louis' stern look is enough of a retort.  
  
"Oh, come on! Let me have a laugh. No? Fine. You're no fun anymore. Almost dying did you no good."  
  
Nick takes a deep breath and his expression changes. He looks like he's searching for the right words. "Let's take this outside. I want to look at the sky and the sea. I got that from Harry actually. He loves it outside. Oh, and you can take your Hanzo. I trust you not to slay me before we're done talking."

Nick gets up and takes his own sword that was on display outside, sits on a chair right before the garden and places it on the table in front of him. Louis grabs his katana from the couch and goes after Nick. He chooses the chair right across from him, glad for the distance the table allows them to have.

"When you and Harry disappeared, I thought you were dead. It was the logical conclusion. You were not on the same mission and you hardly ever spoke in my presence so there was no way I could have seen what was really happenng coming. So I mourned you. I was upset about Harry but your death was the worst pain ever. By the way, pretending to be dead to someone who loves you, very cruel. I tracked you down four months after because I was looking for your killer. I didn't expect to find you living with Harry playing the happy couple and soon to be married. I was enraged. So I overreacted."

"That would be an understatement."

"Well, you did break the heart of a murdering bastard. There are consequences to that. Not trying to say I was right. Nothing we did was right, none of us, but it can all be explained because we're all humans. So, after I... Shot you, I didn't feel the relieve I was expecting to feel. I felt anger. I was angry at you for cheating on me and marrying someone else. I was angry at you for making me kill you. I was angry at Harry for making you leave me. I don't remember feeling anything else for a moment. When we realized Harry was still alive, I wanted him to suffer. So I took him home so I could torture him. To make him live in pain, and without you, until my anger disappeared."  
  
Louis swallows at the image that is painted in his brain. It was enough to see Harry almost killed by his side five years ago. Harry didn't deserve to have suffered for five years while Louis was in a coma. A not very peaceful one considering he had Buck as a carer but still. Louis knew how cruel Nick could be.  
  
"But once we were home I just... I couldn't do it. I did use him as a punching bag for a day. But after that first night, after I left him sobbing and bleeding on the floor of a locked room, I locked myself in a room and cried. I never cry so that was a shocker. I thought Leonardo DiCaprio would win an Oscar before I cried again. I was feeling the pain of losing you. Not only because you were dead but because I did the killing. I couldn't explain to you the pain of being responsible for the destruction of something you love most. And Harry, I have so much history with Harry. And he used to love me, you know. And maybe I would have loved him too before I met you. I couldn't believe that that was how our story would end. I was very emotional and a mess. I let him starve for a couple of days because I just couldn't bring myself to face him. But I was feeling so lonely. Much more now that I had lost you twice. So I thought that Harry could be a good companion. We had both lost you so we could mourn you together. Help each other heal. He was the only one who could understand my pain. So I started to take care of him. Opposite to you, he didn't want a revenge worth of movies made about it. He was depressed. He didn't care about anything, about himself. He didn't want to leave the bed most days the first year and I had to remind him that he needed to eat and drink water and shower. When I found out you were alive, I... Before you ask, no, I never told him. He would only get his hopes up, in case you never woke up, and he would leave me to be by your bedside everyday. I couldn't stand to be alone anymore. I understand that it was selfish of me not to tell him. But at the same time, it wasn't. I was also protecting him in my own way. And I was even more certain that I did the right thing with him. Now, I was only taking care of him for you. Because if you were to come, and here you are, you have the person you love most healthy and somewhat happy waiting for you. You can think of it as my apology gift. I hope that you can forgive me?"  
  
Louis answer is stuck on his throat. That wasn't the explanation he was expecting, he doesn't know what to think.  
  
"I know it's weird but you did some horrible things too. You cheated on me and killed my Squad. I'm willing to forget about it all. If you are too, we could all live together if you'd like? I've grown quite found of Harry. More than before. And he needs me. At least he needed for almost five years! You can call this a Stockholm Syndrome if you'd like but. I like him. And I love you. And I will respect your right to have a choice. I just don't think I could stand losing either of you. So for me, it's either living together or fighting until one of us dies. What do you say?"

"Nick- I-" Louis is not sure what to feel so he's not sure what to say.

He feels an acknowledgement itching to be pronounced but he swallows it. It would be crazy to thank Nick, though. Yes, he did spare Harry and took care of him, but that would have never happened if Nick hadn't almost killed both of them on their wedding day. You are not supposed to thank someone for trying to repair what they broke. No one would have showered Hitler with kisses if he had decided overnight in 1944 that the war didn't make sense anymore and that it was okay with him if people were black, gay or Jewish. Nick might have done something good, but he also caused so much _pain_. Louis would never be able to look at him again and not feel like stabbing him.

That's when the anger comes back stronger. How dare Nick to ask for forgiveness?

"Do you still love me, Louis?"

Louis' eyes find Nick's. "I'm not sure if I ever loved you. I thought I did. For so long, I really believed I did. But then there was Harry. I don't think I can call any other feeling I ever had 'love' after I met him. That's why I think you can understand that I can't forgive you. I wouldn't know how. I have always lacked mercy, compassion and forgiveness."

Nick looks down and runs his fingers through his hair. "Well, it hurts more than I thought it would."

"You and I have unfinished business."

"That we do. It's almost five and Harry took a pill to sleep - the doctor prescribed them, he has trouble sleeping sometimes. I didn't drug him, I swear. - So he'll probably be asleep for at least a couple more hours. We could go to the beach and fight there. And this hacienda has its own private island. We could go there. That way if you die he won't have to know you didn't die before and suffer again. We can even wait until sunrise to make it aesthetically pleasing. It would be very old school of us."

Maybe Nick is right. But Louis doesn't intend to die. That's not an option now.

His hand is already on the handle but before he can take the sword out of its scabbard, Nick must have read the intentions in his eyes because he uses his own sword to attack Louis.

To dodge, Louis throws his weight against the back of the chair and tries to balance it on two feet only. He throws his body forward just in time to not fall on the ground and uses the scabbard to avoid being hit.

Nick lunges the sword again. Louis defends one, two, three times. Nick's sword hits the wooden chair so Louis spins it and uses his legs to impulse it towards the side of the table. Nick lunges his katana again and Louis manages to stop it with his own again, this time pressing Nick's against the table.

Nick's left hand is loose enough for Louis to pull it out of the handle and push it away. Nick's chest is clear of barries and the opportunity is too good for Louis not to take it.

Using two fingers of his right hand, Louis hits Nick's chest in three different spots in quick succession. The forth hit is a twist and the fifth one is the right where his heart is hidden beneath his skin.

At first it is not as relieving as he thought it would be. His heart slightly tightens when blood comes out of Nick's mouth. The horrified eyes staring at him remind him of a time he really cared for their owner. Louis takes advantage of Nick's shock to throw both swords away from his reach.

"Pai Mei taught you the Five-Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique then? Why'd you never tell me?" Nick sounds wounded, not just physically.

Pai Mei teaching it to no one but Louis made him feel especial. He didn't want to share that with other people. It was for him and Pai Mei to know only. Nick would have probably asked him to teach it to him and Louis would never do that. Maybe it was selfish of him to keep the information though. He did feel like he was betraying Nick when he kept it a secret. "Because I'm a bad person."

"No, none of that. You are not a bad person. You are just a person. My favorite person. But every once in a while you can be a real cunt."

The corner of Louis' lips turn upwards. This is it. The weight on his shoulder he was carrying ever since he woke up from his comatose state is lifted. Still, he feels like crying and he can't pinpoint which emotion he's feeling is the responsible for that.

"How do I look?" Nick asks with a smile while shaking imaginary dust off his jacket.

"I reckon no better looking person ever died in this villa. Though I'm not sure about the hair, it's too messy. What will the staff think of you when they find you?"

"Well, I guess I'll just have to live with it. Or die."

Nick stands up. The ghost of a smile still on both lips.

"Good-bye, Nicholas."

"Good-bye, Louis. Take care of Harry."

The five steps Nick takes are counted in Louis' head. It's almost peaceful the way Nick hits the grass. The surroundings are beautiful and the sea can be seen and heard. The weather is nice and birds are starting to sing. Louis can understand why Nick wanted their confrontation to happen outdoors. It's the best place he can think of for one to die.

Two minutes pass before Louis stands up and goes straight to Harry's bedroom. He walks into the room and lies down next to Harry, pressing his chest against Harry's back and putting his arm around his middle. Louis nuzzles his hair and it becomes all too much.

The shampoo Harry uses is still the same and his skin has the same scent. The heat their pressed bodies emanates feels so familiar. Louis' tears come as tsunami tides and he lets out a sob when he can feel Harry moving.

"Nick?" Harry's voice is deep and there's a hint of confusion in it. He probably isn't used to waking up with a sobbing person holding on to him.

Louis chuckles because he is so happy. Harry is pressed against him. Harry is alive! And talking! God, it's so wonderful to be able to listen to his voice. He'll never take it for granted anymore. Or anything Harry does. He's so stupidly in love. Harry's okay. And soon they'll both be okay together. That's the only thing he wants to be sure of anymore. That's the one thing that he never wants to change.

"No, love. It's Louis."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Xx.


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